Sunny days always bring lightness with them. Light filled days make smiles looser. Red ripe fruits tell stories of the summer to come and even though temperatures have been quite timid we let ourselves believe that the easier, lighter months, that taste like free days, sun and salty skin are upon us. We all know what makes our hearts joyful, mine craves sun and salt and sandy feet.

With my mind filled with sunny thoughts I more often feel like going to the kitchen and let my creativity flow, play with ingredients and see what happens. Try and if it’s a fail no fuss because the sun is shining anyway. Play, imagine, create, laugh in the kitchen and then tasting and being amazing like this parfait. The French title already announces its perfection and leaving all modesty aside it deserves it.

This perfect parfait has not one, not two but three lovely recipes for you! It combines a simple and delicious buckwheat cream, perfect for warmer days and easy to adapt to whatever you have around. The granola is amazing and a great solution for the leftover almond pulp from making your own almond milk. And the pièce de resistance, to keep the French vibe going, is the rhubarb and hibiscus jam.

Of course you can make each of the recipes on their own! The buckwheat cream is super versatile, you can add all sorts of fruits to it, add in any granola you have, top with fruit and jam and you got yourself dozens of different parfaits options. The rose waste free granola is delicious with yogurt and strawberries. And the jam is so amazing it goes great with anything you add it too.

See you next week with sun and hopefully salt and sand too.

Ingredients

Jam

400gr rhubarb

1 apple

1 thumb size piece of ginger

½ tsp hibiscus powder

100gr whole cane sugar

Wash and cut the rhubarb into small pieces. Peal and grate the apple and ginger. Add everything to a sturdy pot along with the sugar. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Take it to the boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the hibiscus and stir in. Pour into a jar and once cooled store in the fridge up to 2 weeks.

Buckwheat mousse (for 2)

½ cup buckwheat soaked overnight

Juice of 1 orange

1 small banana

1 date

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 cup water

1 tsp flax seeds

1 pinch of salt

Rinse and wash the buckwheat. Add all ingredients to the blender and blend until creamy and smooth.

Rose granola

1 cup almond pulp (leftover form making homemade almond milk)

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup coconut flakes

¼ cup tahini

¼ cup + 2 tbsp rice syrup

½ tsp cardamom powder

1 pinch of salt

Zest and juice of 1 orange

1 tbsp dried rose petals

1 tbsp hibiscus flowers (the ones you use for tea)

Preheat the oven to 170º.

In a bowl mix the almond pulp, coconut flakes, oats and salt. In another bowl whisk the tahini, rice syrup, juice and zest of the orange and the cardamom. Pour the wet mixture into the dried one and mix to combine.

Line a tray with parchment paper and spread the mix. The texture is slightly different from your usual granola, the idea is to spread it like a course wet sand mix.

Bake for 15 minutes. After that give it a mix and bake for 15 to 20 more minutes. Remove from the oven and mix in the roses and hibiscus.